Toronto's Handling says it's a 'fine year' for British cinema

12 September, 2010 | By Suzan Ayscough

“It has been a very fine year for British cinema,” according to TIFF CEO Piers Handling, underlining the irony that just six weeks ago it was announced that the UKFC will close its doors, likely in 2012.

“Obviously something was working, and people were making the right decisions” Handling continues. “We even felt this was an exceptional year,” he says of a stellar British line-up of pictures at TIFF.

Nonetheless, Handling isn’t. worried that British cinema will vanish with the Council. “They’ve said very clearly the funding will continue; it’s just not clear on how that funding will be dispersed,” he says. “So there’s no weakening in terms of the [U.K. government’s] commitment to the industry itself. They’re not taking the money away; they’re just taking the organization away.”

Handling offers that “I just hope that whatever replaces the UKFC, the people are sensitive to cinema, to the artists, to the market and continue to make the right funding decisions.”

It is still unclear how the U.K. will re-direct $25m (£15m) production funding when the UKFC closes in 2012.

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